Typhoon Mangkhut hits Hong Kong's airfreight volumes

Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) has blamed weather conditions for a slight fall in cargo and passenger volumes in September at the world's number one airfreight hub.

It said that the decrease is “due primarily to Typhoon Mangkhut, which resulted in no flight movement for more than 20 hours”.

Cargo and airmail throughput was 431,000 tonnes in September, a drop of 1.4% compared to the same month last year.

The airport authority said that the reduction in cargo throughput was mainly the result of a 4% decrease in exports. In contrast, transhipments continued to be the relatively stronger cargo category, achieving a 3% year-on-year growth.

Among the key trading regions, traffic to and from Europe and Japan declined most significantly.

Over the first nine months of 2018, HKIA handled 3.75m tonnes of cargo and airmail, representing year-on-year increase of 2.6%. Flight movements increased by 1.8% to 318,650 compared to the same period last year.